Grover, a beloved Muppet character from the children’s television program Sesame Street, is an adorable, cute and furry little monster, which in Spain we know as Coco. What should scare us (a monster) actually gives us a good time, especially boys and girls. But, in our adult imagination, when monsters stalk us we also dress them in an adorable Coco costume.
Hence, it is the Vladimir Putins or the Donald Trumps who aspire to dominate our world. Because the best tactic against terror is to promote infantilism, that is, treating the entire population as if they were children and not adults capable of thinking for themselves and, therefore, more difficult to deceive. This is how it is understood that, in recent weeks, there has been a constant bombardment of messages from leaders of all kinds calling for countries to rearm because a great war is approaching.
This “bogeyman is coming” tactic works. We had breakfast one day with headlines telling us that Trump would “encourage” Russia to attack NATO allies that do not meet their defense spending and, the next day, we know that more than half of the Alliance countries already They will comply with 2% of GDP to arm their armies. “Europe must manufacture more ammunition and more weapons,” proclaimed Arancha González Laya, dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po university and former Spanish Foreign Minister.
This racket of infantilism usually uses movie-like language, always lacking in context or information. Let’s look at a clear example: The head of the Intelligence Committee of the United States House of Representatives, Republican Mike Turner, has warned this week of the existence of a “serious threat to national security” related to “a destabilizing foreign capability” . That is to say, the Coco is coming, but we don’t know how, or when, or where, or who he is or why. The important thing is that key words such as “threat” or “security” remain in the imagination of the population. And then, hours later comes the second part. The White House confirms that Russia has developed anti-satellite weapons, but does not declassify the information, rather the spokesman for the Security Council, John Kirby, limits himself to ensuring that the nuclear system is not yet active, but it is “worrying.” This last word is key to giving the main message that is wanted to be conveyed: “The Coco is coming.”
In reality, everything is connected. If we create citizens with less capacity to think and ask questions, it is easier for a few to take the reins of the world to always favor them. We have just realized, according to an alert launched by academics, that Spanish university students do not read complex texts and that “critical thinking” is in danger. But is it really interesting for young people to think?… In Russia, we have seen how the death in prison of the opponent Alexei Navalny symbolized the death of this “critical thinking”, but surely it is not a constant that is repeated in other countries in one way or another and to a greater or lesser extent?
The one who already realized this centuries ago was the painter Francisco de Goya (1746 – 1828), who, among his works, left us the etching That the coconut is coming, an engraving from 1799 from the Los Caprichos series in which he made clear (perhaps it was a warning?) that it was a serious mistake in the education of boys and girls for parents to scare their sons and daughters with ghosts and beings that do not exist. He considered that this type of absurd superstitions would later dominate them throughout their lives. The Aragonese painter, from the perspective of an illustrated artist, revealed with this work the importance of education, that is, critical thinking, something that Trump, Putin and other bosses of this 21st century who love infantilism want to avoid. All coast. But not only them, anyone with power can exercise the same tactic.
In a song from the 17th century, in which the character of the Coconut is alluded to, the lyrics say the following: “Sleep and be calm/ may faith let the coconut come/ if you don’t sleep.” Applied to today, they are telling us that the only way to sleep peacefully is to rearm, although the chances of a war can increase precisely the more weapons there are ready to fire. Will Trump preside over the United States again?… The Bogeyman is coming… Will Putin invade any NATO country?… The Bogeyman is coming… And so fears and superstitions are intertwined so that, precisely , perhaps what you would like to avoid will happen.
In the manuscripts on the meaning of Los Caprichos, several clarifications are made about the meaning of the Goyaesque engraving Que Coming El Coco. In the Prado Museum it is said that this work represents “the disastrous abuse of early education. Making a child more afraid of Coco than his father and forcing him to fear what does not exist.” In Ayala’s manuscript (which, by the way, has nothing to do with the author of this article in El Burladero del Lector of La Vanguardia) it is noted that Goya has represented how “mothers scare their children with the Coco in order to speak.” with his lovers.” The manuscript of the National Library expresses the same sense: “Silly mothers make children fearful by appearing as the Coco; and other worse ones use this artifice to be alone with their lovers when they cannot keep their children away from them.” “. Be that as it may, the Coco is always a smokescreen to mislead, frighten and achieve a selfish objective. If that is done to a son or a daughter, what won’t an unscrupulous leader do with his people?… Well, that’s it, the Coconut is coming.
